


All Men Fall

by CallYourGirlfriend



Series: All The Light We Cannot See [5]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Angst, Biblical Scripture References (Abrahamic Religions), Blasphemy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24744970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallYourGirlfriend/pseuds/CallYourGirlfriend
Summary: "Alfie listens because it’s disgusting, innit, how wagging tongues make Gods out of mere men. Thomas Shelby is no exception. Even if Alfie has seen himself how he bleeds red as any mortal."
Relationships: Grace Burgess/Tommy Shelby, Tommy Shelby & Alfie Solomons
Series: All The Light We Cannot See [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789294
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	All Men Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of the series "All The Light We Cannot See," which uses canon to imagine what happens before, sometime in the middle or just after an episode leaves off. It's the light we do not see. It is also purposefully concise; written to fit exactly one Google Doc page.

**_Coda -- 2x06_ **

Alfie hears about the cock up at Kimpton the day it happens. A threat to the king’s life? Two shootings? A mystery man -- this blue-eyed bloke! -- winning on every bet? Of course the men guzzling Aflie’s shit rum at even shittier pubs wouldn’t stop talking about a thing like that. 

Alfie listens because it’s disgusting, innit, how wagging tongues make Gods out of mere men. Thomas Shelby is no exception. Even if Alfie has seen himself how he bleeds red as any mortal. 

It’s why, two days later when Tommy arrives unannounced at the bakery, Alfie preaches about false gods while having Tommy strip searched at gunpoint. “But if he did not succeed in all this or was killed, he is definitely not the Moshiach promised in the Torah,” Alfie recites.

Tommy shoots his cuffs, staring down the barrel of Ollie’s Webley .45. “Offer me a drink Alfie.” 

Alfie has no taste for their profession’s sacrament, but he pours rum in his office and sits back while Tommy downs his glass and then, when it’s clear it’ll turn back to sugarcane before Alfie gets to it, takes Alfie’s too. Alfie just waits, continuing his sermon, while Tommy chain smokes. 

He’s hoarse, starting on his third homily, before Tom finally says, “I’m going to be a father.” 

Alfie takes, but does not miss, a beat. “Our earthly king has sinned with the Whore of Babylon?”

Tommy shakes his head and downs the dregs of his rum. “Grace isn’t a whore.” 

Alfie already knew that. Call it divine intervention or just drunken chinwag, but Alfie heard about the fancy Irish cunt that had Tommy Shelby made. A spy, apparently. For the crown. Alfie always thought Tommy was too much of a bastard. Too much like him. But watching the man’s face, Alfie is stung with realization. All men fall, he supposes. Good thing Alfie is far from just a man. 

“So you appearing to me like a burning bush is what?” Alfie demands. “A stag do for yourself?” 

The harsh angles of Tommy’s face become less severe then. They don’t crease or wrinkle or even move so much as soften. Alfie wonders if this is Tommy Shelby smiling. It looks painful. 

“I go to America soon,” Tommy says. “I need to ensure there will be order in my absence.”

Alfie sits back as if blown. “You’d ask a fallen angel to guard this hell you call heaven?” 

Tommy stubs his cigarette out on the table. “Religion is a collective hallucination, Alfie.”

So is loyalty in the face of temptation, Alfie thinks. But Tommy believes only in himself. He won’t know that. Just like he won’t know that soon Aflie will be the only God who walks amongst men.


End file.
